Replacing floor pans

[randy73]

How do I get the old pan out, I am replacing the front D/S with 1/2 pan and the Pass. side rear pan.
Specifically, how do you get the crimped welds along the door?

Grind  them off?

[Troy]

I've never had a 73 apart but the "crimped welds" on the earlier cars weren't part of the floor pan - they're part of the rocker. The floor pan sits on top of the rocker with the edge against the pinch weld that the door sill plates covers up. I use a combination of a spot weld cutter, cutoff wheel, body saw, grinding disc, and air hammer with a chisel to chop up my cars. It is sometimes easier to only cut out what is necessary rather than trying to replace the entire panel. Since you don't have a full floor pan (I don't think they make them any way) you're going to be welding all the way around your patch so it might as well be a smaller piece. On the other hand, if you are very careful with a cutoff wheel you can run it along the door sill just inside the spot welds. This way you'll be able to butt weld the new pan while it's overlapping the rocker. Once you grind the welds flat it will be hard to tell you replaced a piece since the original spot welds will be there. It doesn't matter much any way because that whole area gets covered with seam sealer.

Troy

[HOTROD]

Air chisel Its what i used on my friends 73 charger  !

[randy73]

Air chisel Its what i used on my friends 73 charger  !

Wish I had one.

[Tilar]

China freight has them cheap. Good for one or two jobs.

[Troy]

China freight has them cheap. Good for one or two jobs.

Haha, yeah I just picked up the Harbor Freight "deluxe" set that came with a pile of chisels for $11.99. There was a cheaper one for $9.99 but it only had 2 chisels and sounded like it wasn't as good.

Troy

[Brock Lee]

What the hell, at that price even if you go through several it isn't anything to cry about.

[randy73]

How do you get to the spot welds running along the front seam?

Do you have to go underneath or should I try chiseling them from above?

[randy73]

Never mind, got the old one off.

[AmadeusCharger500]

question for you. Did you drill out the spot welds on the front seam already? If so how do plan on making that area look decent/factory  as it can be seen from the engine bay. Picky I know but I'm very curious about how people do this.

[Domino]

question for you. Did you drill out the spot welds on the front seam already? If so how do plan on making that area look decent/factory  as it can be seen from the engine bay. Picky I know but I'm very curious about how people do this.

2nd gen...Yes, drilled them all.  Also used the die grinder with spherical burr for the hard to reach ones.  You can drill straight through both layers, then use the holes in the firewall lip to plug weld to the new pan which doesn't need drilled.  

Then it's just a matter of grinding the plug welds flush and if you're picky like me, a little body work to smooth it all out.

[randy73]

question for you. Did you drill out the spot welds on the front seam already? If so how do plan on making that area look decent/factory  as it can be seen from the engine bay. Picky I know but I'm very curious about how people do this.

Actually, I used a thin cut off blade on my angle grinder. Dug out all the sealer from the seam and the gap was big enough to get the blade in and cut the seam.

Going to drill holes in the new pan and weld it back on.